Fire-escape.



No. 632,893. Patented Sept. [2, 1899.

J. H. CLINTON.

FIRE ESCAPE.

Application filed June 12, 1899.;

No Model.)

Nrrnn Srn'rns ATENT anion.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 632,893, dated September 12, 1899.

Application filed June 12, 1899.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN H. CLINTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Andover, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire Escapes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to an improvement in fire-escapes, and more particularly to that class of fire-escapes in which a rope is employed which is secured to the window of the room of a house with which a slide is employed to support a person so that he may slide down the rope and thus escape from the building.

The object of my invention is to improve devices of the character above referred to so that the rate of motion of the person sliding down the rope may be regulated.

To the above end my invention consists in the improvement in fire-escapes hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the preferred form of my invention, Figure 1 is a view showing a front elevation of the window of a house with the fire-escape in position, and Fig. 2 is a side view of the same. Fig. is an enlarged perspective View of the device. Fig. 4: is a transverse section of the slide 3 and lover 8 through the rivet 0, upon which the lever 8 is pivoted to the slide 3.

In the illustrated embodiment of my invention a rope 1 is attached to a hook 2, secured in the inside of a window-frame. Upon this rope is slidingly mounted the fire-escape device which carries the person down the rope. This device consists of a slide 8, through which the rope 1 passes and to which is attached in any suitable manner the strap 4:, as by means of the clamp 5. This strap r is of such size that a person can readily pass it around the body under the arms. The slide 3 is provided with holes 6 and 7 ,and the rope passes down through the slide, out through the opening 6, around the body of the slide,

Serial No. 720,182.

(No model.)

as shown in Fig. 3, and back into the slide through the opening 7. The bending of the rope around the slide constitutes a means of increasing the frictional resistance between the slide and the rope, so that the descent of a person shall not be too rapid.

In order to regulate the amount of friction between the slide and the rope, I have provided a lever 8, which is pivoted to the slide at 9 and around which the rope passes from the opening 6 around the slide and again over the lever into the opening 7. If now the lever 8 be held in the position shown in Fig. 3, the slide will have the least possible frictional resistance in moving over the rope; but if the person descending found that the rate of descent was too rapid the rate could be diminished by turning the lever about the pivot in the direction of the arrows 10, which would increase the frictional resistance between the slide and the rope, and thereby diminish the rate of descent. hen the le ver was turned to the position shown in the dotted lines 11, the slide would encounter the greatest resistance in moving over the rope, and such resistance would be sufficient to hold the person suspended on the rope. This is a desirable capability of operation if the person descending from one room should desire to stop at a window below to assist another occupant of the house to escape. For this purpose I may use the additional rope 12, which is capable of holding a second person on the slide.

I prefer to make the slide 3 of a piece of tubing, as shown, although of course it could be made of any suitable material. I also prefer to make the ends of the tube bell-mouthed, as shown at 13 in Fig. 3, so that there shall not be any cutting of the rope in entering and leaving the slide. I prefer also to make the shape of the tubing slightly curved, as shown in Fig. 2, as I have found that such shape is less liable to cut the rope.

IVhile I have thus described the preferred form of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself specifically thereto, as the same is capable of being embodied in various forms without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I over the lever and into the other hole, subclaim as new and desire to secure by Letters stantially as described. IO 7 Patent of the United States In testimony whereof I affix my signature in In a fire-escape, the combination with a presence of two witnesses.

rope, of a slide mounted thereon provided JOHN II. CLINTON.

with holes, a lever pivoted to the slide be- WVitnesses: tween the holes, the rope passing out one WILLIAM ODLIN, hole, over the lever, around the slide, back IVAN G. ODLIN. 

